3 Responses

Loved the interview. Listening to it was a perfect way to start a relaxing vacation day in beautiful Miami.

I’d like to get your opinion on a gripe of mine involving the “demise” of the business plan. I just can’t understand how investors can make an intelligent business decision based on a one hour meeting and a deck with ten slides. Isn’t it the case that a seemingly good team can be wrong about their technology assessments? And can’t these details make or break the business? It would seem to me that even if a startup was going to pivot and transform over time, having a somewhat detailed plan would:

1) Solidify the assumptions so that pivots can be made
2) Provide a framework for analytical assessment
3) Allow 3rd parties to learn the details of the business in order to give advice

What type of written materials do you think a team should have before approaching investors?

My current take is that the most important thing to have is a business model which has already made contact with customers and has been iterated upon. On top of this I still think it is necessary to have a “Plan of Record” which explains how the company will get from point A to point B (point B being the business described in the model). This would have to include schedules and projections. Do the combination of these components not make a business plan?

Have you heard about the Master of Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Michigan? It’s the first of its kind with a specialized focus on technology-based startups and entrepreneurial business fundamentals. This intense, one-year program develops entrepreneurial leaders who are prepared to start their own enterprise or assist companies to develop and launch new technologies. Learn more @ http://entrepreneurship.umich.edu